In recent years, a vehicle equipped with a power storage device (for example, a secondary battery, a capacitor and the like) and running with the driving force generated from the electric power stored in the power storage device has received attention as an environmentally-friendly vehicle. Such a vehicle includes, for example, an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle, and the like. There is a proposed technique for charging the power storage device mounted in the above-described vehicle by a commercial power supply having high power generation efficiency.
As a hybrid vehicle, there is also a known vehicle equipped with a power storage device that can be charged by a power supply external to the vehicle (hereinafter simply referred to as an “external power supply”) (which will be hereinafter simply referred to as “external charging”) as in the case of the electric vehicle. For example, the so-called “plug-in hybrid vehicle” is known which is provided with a power storage device that can be charged by a household power supply through the charging cable connecting between the power receptacle provided in the house and the charging port provided in the vehicle. According to this, an improvement in the fuel consumption efficiency of the hybrid vehicle can be expected.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-220813 (PTL 1) discloses a technique regarding a relay connector for charging an electric vehicle that can be adapted to a plurality of types of connectors on the vehicle side which are different in specification. When the relay connector disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-220813 (PTL 1) is used, the existing power supply device for an electric vehicle can be adapted to a plurality of types of connectors on the vehicle side. Accordingly, the number of types of vehicles that can be charged can be increased.